Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements. In 2019, the anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements was removed as a national holiday but the 30th anniversary is being commemorated with a 30,000 riel bill. Like most Cambodian currency, it features the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk. Notably, it is the first…
Tag: Khmer Rouge
Why Prey Veng?
Since 1981 Mennonite Central Committee has focused much of its rural efforts on Prey Veng province. But why? Prey Veng has, over decades, been one of the highest need areas that is relatively accessible from Phnom Penh. The most brutal Khmer Rouge internal purges targeted the East Zone which included Prey Veng province. Prey Veng…
Why do so many Cambodians have diabetes?
Cambodians have surprisingly high rates of diabetes. Why? Is it because they put a lot of sugar in their coffee? This is what one expatriate told me when I mentioned that I was excited to have Cambodian coffee again. To paraphrase “Be careful, you’ll get diabetes.” I normally drink my coffee black so it’s a…
It was three years before I visited S21
Crystal’s recent reflections on visiting Tuol Sleng have had me thinking about my own experience. I lived in Cambodia for almost three years before I visited Tuol Sleng. I saw Kang Kek Iew (Comrade Duch) in person before I set foot in the place where he committed his most horrible crimes. This will be a…
Tuol Sleng
This afternoon I visited Tuol Sleng, the torture prison set up in a former high school during the Khmer Rouge. Through an audio tour I learned about the Khmer Rouge’s goals, methods, and finally their fall from power. Similar to the concentration camps in Germany, the documentation of the people who were “processed” is abundant,…